So sorry for the long lapse in blog entries!!! A lot has been going on the past few weeks. On May 28 I went to see one of the camp staff's gayageum performace, which was totally awesome! Afterwards, I crashed at Becca and Mary's hotel but I woke up around 6 in the morning with the worst stomachache ever!
Jinhwa unni's perfomance!
After about an hour or so and it not going away or lessening, I decided to wake up Mary and we went to the hospital. On the walk to the main road to catch a taxi, I threw up. That's when I knew, I was really sick. We went to Severance Hospital, which is connected to Yonsei University, as that was the only reputable hospital I really knew.
In the international wing, I saw the doctor. They checked a few things and sent me home with some medicine. Meanwhile, Mary had called Sarang to tell her I was sick and Sarang and her dad drove over, picked me up, and took me to their house. They live on the complete other side of the city~
That night, at Sarang's house, my stomach hurt so much I couldn't lie down. So at 3:30 am we went to the ER. I was there for a good 6 hours. They couldn't specifically figure out what was wrong. I got an IV and they did an xray and CT scan and they took my blood. Eventually, I went home.
The next day, Sarang's mom's friend, a nurse came over and checked on me. She gave me another IV and she checked a few things.
The day after that, I was supposed to go back to the hospital where I had taken a CT scan, so the CT specialist could look at it. But since it was two days old they wanted to take another one. They also said I had some sort of blood infection or something because my white blood cell count was almost double the normal amount. weird. They said I might need surgery and it might be my appendix.
But the CT scanner on my floor was broken, so there was a huge backup. After like 2 hours of waiting for the dumb CT, Sarang's dad, who had been there with me the whole time, decided we should go to another hospital and I concurred. Whew. That hospital was kind of crazy!!! The ER, anyhow. It was way over crowded and they ran out of cots! So, there were people lying on the floor. It was really weird; it kind of looked like some sort of medical area in a third world country after a natural disaster... I know that sounds really horrible, but it was such a surprise because Korea is so technologically advanced and one of the top ten richest countries! I mean Korea is something like the 4 most richest country in Asia and 12th most richest in the world. Odd.
Anyhow, the nurse who had come to Sarang's house knew people at KyeongheeDae hospital, so I got in really fast! I was met at the curb with a wheelchair and everything was taken care of. I met the doctor, who interestingly, got his Medical Ph.D from the University of MN! He told me that I would probably have laparoscopic exploratory surgery to see if they could figure out what was wrong.
I got a double room, but my entire stay of 3 nights and 4 days, I didn't have a roommate, which was nice. Sarang stayed over 2 of three nights and since no one else was there, got to sleep on the bed. ^^
I went into surgery that night. In all of the hospitals I was at (I went to a total of three) the nurses would find out I couldn't speak Korean well and freak out. I literally had a few back away from me. haha. In retrospect its funny. The anesthesia guy tried to tell me what to do but the other nurses in the surgery room were like, 'oh she doesn't speak Korean.' well, I do a bit, because I obviously understood that... and he was like, "oh what do I do?!" In my head, I was like just stick the stupid mask over my mouth and put me to sleep. The end. Easy as that.
After surgery, the doctor told me that my appendix was swollen but hadn't burst, so that decided not to take it out. Later, when I talked to my mom, she said that our American insurance had called and been told that my appendix was taken out. What the heck... So, Sarang and I asked the nurse, and she was like, 'of course your appendix were taken out.' In a very matter of fact manner, like it was preposterous of us to ask that question. So, we asked another nurse, and she said the same thing, that my appendix were taken out. So, I told my mom that and she was like you need to figure this out asap. So, when the doctor stopped by later, we asked him and he said no, my appendix had not been take out and were still in my body. SKETCHY! So, I guess I'd say I'm 95-97% sure I still have my appendix.
After surgery, I wasn't allowed food (which I didn't care about, as I wasn't at all hungry) or water (which I reallllly wanted) for over 24 hours! And I hadn't had any water since 8am the day of my surgery! ugh. I had an IV, so it was okay, but I was sooo thirsty! wow.
Sarang and I hung out in the hospital and watched TV. She and her parents were so sweet and amazing!!! seriously. They helped and took care of everything!
My host family, Becca and Mary also came to visit while I was in the hospital, which was nice! After I got out, I went to Sarang's house and stayed there for 9 days. During that time, Sarang actually also had surgery, although hers was planned. She was in the hospital for 2 nights and three days and then came home and we lounged around her house together. Haha! Her parents must have been so worn out!
So, all in all, they made three incisions on my stomach, two very small ones and one that's a bit bigger to stick a camera in so they could look around. They did not take out my appendix, as far as I know and when I got my stitches taken out, it was surprisingly painful.
As of now, I'm pretty much as good as new. I'll be heading back to MN a bit earlier than originally planned due to being sick, so this is my last week in Korea!!! I leave next Wednesday Korea time and get back next Wednesday, Central time.
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